1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to protective gloves for contact sports and, more particularly, to a protective insert for a sports glove for protection of the digits of the hand, and even more particularly to a reticulated shield-insert for protection of the thumb in a hockey glove.
2. Description of the Background
Protective sports gloves are commonly used and, indeed, are required to be used in many organized sports such as lacrosse, hockey and other contact sports. Such gloves protect the wearer from the impact of lacrosse sticks, hockey sticks, balls, pucks, skates, and other players or obstructions. Contact between the hand and, in particular the fingers or thumb and these items or the playing surface can cause injury. Finger injuries are common in sports with the most common injury being a sprain to one of the ligaments located within the finger or thumb. Each finger has three small bones (phalanges) separated by two interphalangeal joints. Starting from the tip of the finger, the bones are referred to as the distal, medial and proximal phalanges and the joints as the distal and proximal interphalangeal joints. The thumb is unique and has one interphalangeal joint and only two small phalanx bones, the distal and proximal phalanges.
A sprain is an injury to a ligament or the joint capsule surrounding a joint. Each of the joints located in the thumb or finger have collateral ligaments that run along each side of the joints. It is these collateral ligaments that are commonly sprained in sports. The most common mechanism of a sprained digit is a blow to the end of a finger or thumb such as, for example, by a puck moving at high speed. The force of the blow at the end of the finger reverberates up the finger to the joint causing the joint to either hyperextend or move laterally, causing injury to the collateral ligaments in the fingers. A hockey player's thumb is at most risk for injury because the grip required to hold the hockey stick fully and individually exposes the thumb, and because the two smaller phalanx bones are relatively fragile.
Another mechanism of injury in sports is catching a finger in a jersey or piece of sports equipment. If the force is stronger than the tensile strength of the ligament, the ligament can be stretched or torn. Falls to the playing surface are another common cause of digit sprains as players extend their hands to stop their fall. Finally, in stick sports such as hockey or lacrosse, checking across the hand by another player can cause traumatic injury and sprain to the hands if they are not properly protected.
Conventional protective sports gloves for stick sports position pad segments (e.g., made of foam) on the back (dorsal) side of the hand that are covered with fabric or fabric-like material and, in the breaks between the segments, are affixed to one another and to a liner material (also known as the scrim), such as a woven fabric. In these conventional gloves individual foam pads are typically sandwiched between two fabric layers and the layers are sewn together, and to the liner, between breaks in adjacent pads. The padded portions are configured for individual movement of the digits in order to facilitate the free movement and tactile sensation necessary for gripping and maneuvering a shaft such as a lacrosse or hockey stick. Rigid elements, typically of hard plastic, are incorporated at strategic points on and within the glove to enhance protection of the hands and digits, but must be carefully designed and positioned so as not to impede player hand movement, feel of the stick or handling of a puck or ball. When such a protective athletic glove undergoes deformation due to normal articulation of the wearer's digits, adjacent pads and/or hard elements may come into contact with each other to arrest/resist further motion. What is needed is a protective digit insert for a sports glove that absorbs and distributes impact forces from all directions but yet is lightweight and articulated so as to not impede a player's ability to use his thumb and fingers during game play to their fullest ability. A protective digit insert capable of minimizing injury to a hockey player's thumb from airborne pucks traveling at upward of 80-90 mph and hard stick checks, would be particularly advantageous.